Welcome to the Center for Psychedelic Policy
If you’re reading this, it’s because you’ve supported the effort to create safe, legal access to psychedelic therapy. For many in this community, that journey began with Oregon’s Measure 109. For others, it began through research, advocacy, philanthropy, or early state efforts across the country. Wherever you entered the story, your support helped catalyze what followed.
Five years later, 38 states plus Washington, D.C. have introduced more than 250 psychedelic-related bills. Colorado has now adopted its own voter-approved legal access framework, and New Mexico is in the process of standing up the nation’s first legislatively created therapeutic access program. Legislators from politically conservative and progressive states alike are exploring pathways to safe, regulated psychedelic healing.
But with this momentum comes a reality we cannot ignore.
Oregon proved what was possible by launching the nation’s first legal psilocybin therapy program. Colorado followed with an even more expansive framework approved by voters. New Mexico then demonstrated that legislatures can act directly to authorize therapeutic access and is now in the process of implementing its program. Together, these early adopters have shown that safe, regulated psychedelic access is no longer theoretical, it is becoming a permanent feature of state policy.
Now we must solve the challenge that will determine whether these programs truly serve the people who need them most: affordability.
To date, more than 15,000 people have participated in Oregon’s psilocybin program. Through direct engagement with hundreds of those participants, I’ve personally witnessed profound improvements in mental health, reductions in harmful substance use, and meaningful gains in quality of life for people who had exhausted other options.The federal government has not intervened. And while psilocybin is not the right option for everyone, early reporting shows a strong safety profile, with emergency service reports filed in less than 0.1% of cases.
At the same time, Oregon’s data makes something else clear.
The people most likely to seek psilocybin therapy, especially those living with severe anxiety, depression, PTSD, or addiction, are often the same people being blocked by cost and by not knowing where to begin.
That gap is what brings me into this next chapter.
As someone who has spent the last decade expanding access, and as someone who has watched my own family navigate the limits of our behavioral health system, I am not willing to leave this work unfinished. The promise of psychedelic therapy means very little if only the most privileged can reach it.
That is why I launched the Center for Psychedelic Policy (CPP), a national think tank and 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on turning legislative momentum into real-world, affordable access through smart state policy.
In 2026, CPP will focus on three priorities:
Translating Oregon’s lessons into clear, actionable guidance for states
Designing state-funded pilot programs that directly address affordability and serve high-need populations
Building practical tools that help people understand what safe, state regulated psychedelic therapy really looks like
Over the coming months, we will be sharing a short series on Oregon’s lessons, national trends, and how states can build the first wave of affordable, state-funded access programs that meet people where they are.
Thank you for helping launch this movement in Oregon, and for being part of what comes next.
With gratitude,
Sam Chapman
Executive Director